If you’re gonna be stripping insulation off copper pipes, tanks and cabling you might want to check the contents of the insulation first if it’s older stuff……this is a picture from a recent survey where pipework had been pulled (ilegally) from a roof void in a derelict building and the copper stripped and dropped through the broken first floor window.

That stuff ^ is caposite sectional lagging and is 85% brown asbestos.

Apparently the local police had caught a couple of the thieves from this site and took them back to the station before realising the powdery stuff all over the back of the car and cell was not the kind of stuff you’d want to be breathing in…..

So sad about the cyclists. 30 is no age to die, and her poor husband, well, I can’t even begin to imagine how much grieving he is going to have to go through :(

I’d like to see compulsory re-tests for all drivers every 15 years going to every 5 years once over 75.

ericemel – Member

best love story ever

indeed

Size of frame is always the deciding factor above everything else – it almost impossible to get to test ride stuff in my size and that can be easily set up for me, so I have to make a decision on how things look on paper and hope it’s ok in real life.

if it’s meant to be, then it will work out :)

I love the Dwight McClusky character – Tommy Lee Jones pulls that off a treat.

Juliette at her finest too IMO.

Yup, it mostly goes to China

*wipes away tears of laughter*

Frick, that’s impressive!

Hope you heal up soon. :)

I’m in a cast after a wrist dislocation, but have been riding anyway for the last few weeks. Cast has been on since July 24th and I’m due to have an op on the 23rd September to get the cast off and metalwork out. Hopefully then it’ll just be a load of physio, but I suspect it’ll be a few months until I can ride flat out again.

Yup – missing squatting like mad atm as my wrist is in cast. Normally lift heavy once or twice a week when not broken – squats, bench, pull-ups, push press being the main of my lifts now.

Used to powerlift as my primary sport, but biking totally took over. Nice to keep some strength for riding though, it helps massively with DH.

I really miss being properly strong, but have neither the gym time or recovery time to train hard with the riding as well.

I love Mike Patton more than life itself…and Tool for that matter.

I have definitely got happier as I have got older – my early twenties were a bitter misery fest, but now, on the whole, I’d say I am pretty happy. I think maybe because I am accepting of the fact that life can be really terrible, people can be horrid, but I know I can deal with it and on the whole, most people are kind hearted folks who like to help each other out. And no matter how terrible things get, little things like a cuppa in the morning, or a beautiful sky, or that smell of autumn, or a secret bit of singletrack will always be there to focus your thoughts for a short time.

Or maybe I just started riding bikes ;)

I also think most unhappiness stems from envy.

I agree Druid – that and not feeling in control of your own life.

Get those two things sorted and then it’s just a case of chin-up against the bad stuff that happens and seeing every obstacle as a challenge.

Press the button once it flashes in anger. It’s trying to tell you something.

Thanks for all the pics and feedback :)

In terms of build I’m certainly going to go with coil lyriks for the front as I love the set I already on the chammy. I’ll keep it coil on the back although I may upgrade the shock depending on how it runs. Can always lighten it up next year if I do decide to do a 24 hr.

Ooooh so many lovely Hecklers. I think I’m gonna go with black as black can be and get it powdercoated, mainly because otherwise my brain is gonna be fried trying to pick a colour!

cynic-al – ta for the feedback. I’m gonna keep the Van R and get it serviced then, if I ever do get round to doing an enduro I can always lighten it up later. I prefer coil cos it’s so much less faffing and I never manage to get air cans set up just right. Always liked the Van R on the old Orange too.

ratswithwings – oh aye, the chammy will still be my first trail bike of choice I suspect, especially around here. It’s funny because I’ve been thinking about what susser to get for such a long time and hadn’t really thought about a Heckler – then this little one came up and it seems like the perfect choice for what I was looking for. Funny how things work out!

Lovely lovely lovely :)

Absolutely no further forward in choosing a colour scheme though.

Must admit, I am glad I’ve got one with a straight top tube – funny how something like that can make a difference to how a bike looks.

Anyone run an air shock and a coil on an older Heckler? Any opinions? I was gonna get the VanR serviced and set up for me, but now I’m wondering whether I should try and lighten it up a bit *ponders*

Thanks Damion – he looks awesome built up there! This bike is to be very much fun, I can tell!

Will do mamadirt!

Flicky flicky bliss :D

Me! Went proper boing and it was rather unexpected! :D

Chammy with Lyriks = ultimate bike fun :)

It’s all a load of tosh – I spend all bluddy week writing grammatically perfect reports – thus whilst I am milling around the internerds i want to be Able to use as many random capitals, poorly placed hyphens and misssspelled words as I damn well want.

Oh, and after that minor rant up there^ I am still gonna write an essay about the issue!

The only shocking thing I have seen was the lady winners at Bristol bike fest got a set of pedros brushes to share between the team. Low value prize, broken up and shared, a brush, all that work for a brush. They could have thrown in some marigolds and a pinny.

When I won the fun solo class at Bristol a few years ago, I got a pair of man’s riding gloves. I kid you not. :x

Listen to the Ladies DH commentary from the last round and for the majority of it, you get Rob Warner talking about how the guys are gonna be riding the course better. I don’t really GAS when I am watching the ladies – I want to know how they are doing and how they compare to each other.

Specific bikes for women? Yeah, mostly bottom of the range with shite components. Look at the Lapierre range this year…..I want a carbon Zesty with a shorter top tube. Can I get one, can I heck! Test rides are a nightmare – I gave up trying to sort anything for a DH bike test ride wise as everything comes with male sized coils and it’s clearly just far too much hassle for shops to change them round.

TBH, the industry/mags/films alienate women. The guys on the trail rarely do*. Although, saying that, I do have a habit of organising rides to make damn sure I am included. I also feel blessed that when I started riding a few years ago I did so through meeting people from a very friendly forum where egos are small, but hearts and love for riding is huge. They nurtured me through many tantrums, panic attacks and injuries to make me the rider I am. And they were all guys – it’s only recently I have got to ride in all female groups. The (overall) contrasting views/attitudes and reasons for riding between the ladies and men are massive, but neither is right or wrong, and both ladies and men have the ability to love and hate the sport equally.

I do think not being technologically talkative may alienate women from the male side of things on a male dominated ride. It’s only as my riding has improved I’ve started to appreciate things like bike set-up. Now I can hold a three hour conversation about the most appropriate tyre combination for any given trail conditions, the merits of less damping and whether to move to 1×10 I feel much more included in proceedings. :lol:

*as a note: expect certain husbands/boyfriends who stick their misses on a dodgy bike, shout at her that ‘even my nan could ride that’ and leave her behind. Oh, and organised groups that say ‘all inclusive ride, all welcome’ and then leave the female member of the group lost on the first climb. Yes, this kind of stuff really does happen!

There is just so much to say about this issue, I honestly don’t know where to start. I may have to go off and write an essay….

I can’t even begin to explain quite how much Mumford and Sons do it for me. Marcus has a voice that just hits the spot, right there where it hurts.

Funny how music can be so massively dividing on opinion.

Thanks all, for the photos and details on builds :) They all look lovely. I’m currently no further forward in deciding on what trail bike to get (if anything I’m more confused than ever), but the mojo is definitely staying in the running at least until I have test ridden cinnamon_girls.

geetee1972 – thanks for the post. I’m really looking for something that is a pedally all day machine, can be used for enduros (if I ever do one!) but that is also not going to be too much bike for trail centres and flying about singletrack. I have just bodged my Marin Attack back together, but, tbh, it just feels like way too much bike for what I need. Sure, it descends like a demon and actually jumps really well, but it just feels like such a beast now. The fact that the current build is at 35 lb doesn’t help, but I am holding off spending any decent money on kit as I don’t think it’ll overcome the want for something, erm, tighter and I am trying to stay out of the trap of loosing that for more forgiving descending. BUT then again, I’m so used to riding tanks, pretty much anything built up properly is probably going to feel like a dream to climb on :lol:

The Nicolai option I will look into. One thing is for sure, I love industrial looking bikes, and the AC’s really do fit the bill.

I’m not in a big rush, but, on the other hand, I do want to get back to some epic riding before the winter sets in again. So any input it much appreciated!

Rickmeister – thanks for the good info. Very interesting. Interesting to hear about the climbing ability and adjustable forks. Either way it’s gotta be better than my current bike at getting uphill! I know about TBC, unfortunately they only have a green one left, and I just can’t bring myself to go with green (sorry vinnyeh!). Unfortunately I’m down south otherwise I would’ve had a looksie at it in real life.

I don’t think I need to go the HD route as it’s not going to be used for DH and 140 mm is more than enough for most of my riding, without being total overkill at trail centres.

Cheers FBK – tbh, I have been reconsidering the Zesty option after hearing you had one. Although I may leave it a couple of months and see how bad the bearings are, heh heh. It’s a shame they only do the WSD in the 514 as I would’ve gone with the 714 myself. We aren’t good enough to get the option of decent kit, clearly ;)

Likeomg – unfortunately we don’t have an Ibis dealer close by and kielder is miles away. Although cinnamon girl has offered me a test ride on hers so I’ll prolly go with that option as I’ll get to meet another STW lady at the same time :D

Dreednya – again, very nice. XX kit in all!

No-one had been telling me ‘porky pies’. Unbelievably I do have the ability to look at a bike and think more than, ‘oh, that’s no good, the colour doesn’t match my nail varnish’. :wink:

I don’t want to pay £40 for a crud guard if the design is flawed enough for UK riding that an additional bolt on option is a necessity, and you don’t get it for free! Then the bike looses brownie points on my ‘shortlist’. So does the fact getting a test ride was a no-go when I asked at the LBS.

Moonhead – Member

The Cube shock location does put me off too, even with the guard it must be more prone to crap ultimately wearing the seals? Maybe Cube owners know better.

LBG, what about a Zesty 514 up or a Canyon Nerve XC? Granted the head angle is 69 and they are 120mm but maybe you could live with that?!?

I have been very tempted by a Zesty, but the BB and bearing horror stories have put me off tbh. A male version is a definite no as it will be too long in the tt, but the WSD is pretty nice.

I love the look of the Canyon since seeing the review in the mag, but I suspect I’ll soon be out of my depth with 120 mm up front. Would be interesting to know how it handles with the 140 mm on the front though.

rickmeister = I like the red and black, looks nice :) How do you find it as a bike?

pfft – levers look spot on to me

slack wrists is where it’s at!

That appears to be the bike that I have been looking for all my life.

*is in love*

Very nice cinnamon_girl! I would love to have a sit on/pootle on it. 26.5 lb is obscenely light for a 140 mm fs!

The arguments are the same though and the core is that the people espousing the “anti” line are totally set in their beliefs and will not permit people the CHOICE to decide. The typical strawman is that they’re opposing sides of the argument but that would require the pro-choice lobby to be mandating compulsory abortions/euthanasia in certain situations. The only side with the absolutist approach is the anti-choice side which is why I think there’s a valid parallel.

People have the right to a choice.

The difference with the abortion issue is that the unborn person does not get any right to choose. This is why many anti-abortionists do not agree with abortion under any circumstances and do not accept the woman’s argument that it is any more ‘her right’ to kill her child than it is the child’s right to life.

VE is a case of one person deciding to terminate their own life. Abortion is one person deciding to terminate the life of another and not giving that ‘other’ any choice in the matter. In fact, I feel drawing any parallels with VE and abortion risks muddying the issues surrounding VE.

Giving an all encompassing comment about how those “espousing the ‘anti’ line are totally set in their beliefs and will not permit the people the CHOICE to decide” strikes of just as much intolerance on your part not to listen to those who have genuine concerns for the lives they feel the need to speak up for.

As time progresses, and I read more into both issues, I would say I am becoming more pro-choice VE and more anti-abortion.

@littlebunnygirl You say: “(i.e. being able to physically ‘do stuff’ is not a requirement for having a worth) and even when very ill, people still bring something to the world”

This is the core issue. Who gets to decide that? Only the person in question can surely decide… as long as they are of sound mind, of course.

Interesting parallel with the pro-life lobby too.

Abosolutely – only the person can decide, and, like I say, I am very much pro-choice VE. It was more a statement than an argument against VE. However, I find it sad to think that people are going earlier than they wish because of the need to travel and the increasing risk that they may one day be deemed unsuitable to give their own consent.

Disagree with making parallels to abortion however. Abortion involves terminating the life of another (essentially killing someone/something/a bunch of cells).

Again, found it very hard to watch, but that it was a stunning piece.

I see it has been called ‘pro-suicide propaganda’….this I totally disagree with. I personally am pro-choice, but was left with an overwhelming feeling that both gentlemen had gone too early (because of legal inability for them to chose to die in the UK) and still had very much to give. It also made me think about how much people have an intrinsic value (i.e. being able to physically ‘do stuff’ is not a requirement for having a worth) and even when very ill, people still bring something to the world.

YES

but only if accompanied by a shaved head otherwise you might as well not bother

some American blokey is in the country?

I miss the peaks a huge amount, pretty much all the trails round Ladybower to be honest. Nothing like blasting down some rocky doubletrack, and rocky doubletrack is definitely missing round here.

Loads of people recommended flows to me when I built up my DH bike.

However, they are, in fact, definitely made of cheese.

My flows have far more dinks in than my Mavic 325’s which have been abused for longer and harder.

5 weeks with a broken thumb was the longest off the bike

Consider giving up and selling the bikes approximately 1 in every 4.5 minutes during a ride.

Have seriously considered selling the lot several times, but particularly when I really struggled to get any resemblance of mojo for a long time after the thumb incident. Realised on Sunday that I am finally, finally, back to being able to crash without worrying about how it could have led to something far worse than a few bruises. That was a great feeling.

Cheers for the replies all. :)

Ed-O – I’ve tried the easy trails and slow speed thing, but it doesn’t matter how easy it the trail is, if I have to bunnyhop, I will still automatically look down when I am in the air. Also, I look down on slow speed drops, but very rarely faster ones, I guess because I am not as confident when I have to accurately time the compression rather than let the speed do the work so the same sub-concious action comes into play to check I’m clearing the edge. Actually, maybe if I just spend hours and hours bunnyhopping until I am totally confident I can always pull off clearing something everytime without fail, my sub-concious may stop feeling the need to do the double-check. :)

MTQG – yup, that sounds like the best idea so far. I was thinking something similar this morning, that placing something the other side of the sticks to deal with after may keep me focusing ahead. Was thinking about two markers to ride between or something, but will also try your idea. That n practice may just cure me.

Ta :D

popstar – I don’t do it as habitually on jumps or corners, not to the same extent. Jedi is always getting feedback off me, although even he can’t crack this looking down one. It’s totally a subconcious habit – I know exactly why I do it, and I know when I do it, but just can’t stop it (yet)!