A bit slow in getting to this, but this was yesterday, a few miles from the Pentlands. Great fun! (edit…IMG links might be broken?)

I remember a time when we all went to Sheldon’s site automatically for questions like these:

Crank length

Still gets me that he’s gone 🙁

That is a bit tragic! it’s been done up to look like something from Kick Ass!

It’s a far nobler bike than the one shown here implies. Jon Whyte is a genius.

it has a tendency to move on my bars aspecially when going downhill fast.

I’m finding that with my 810 (same mount). As soon as the carbon bar gets wet (that’s every ride of course), the unit starts to become unsecure. My stem is too short to mount the unit there though. This wasn’t a problem with the 305…

I might try some duct tape on the bar to let the mount ‘bite’ slightly…

I love it. Off the scale mental! When do we get a ride report?

Sram Rival. Much better than 105, much cheaper than Ultegra. The engineering is mechanically more elegant too.

Ah, a Somme 1915 ride…there’s nothing like that ‘Oh Christ, We’re f****’ feeling is there? 😆

All plans were shelved when Narnia rocked up in the Borders.

Sounds like a lost cause. Chronic knee pain will change his ways.

MTBing isn’t helped by pejorative terms like ‘Granny ring’ though. How much damage has that slur done over the years I wonder?

Don’t panic! It’ll be fine. Leave it for a week beside a radiator (not on one). You might even put it in a bowl of rice; an old classic for drawing out moisture.

I found the parts of an android phone lying scattered across a hill road in the pouring rain. I dried it out over the course of four days, turned it on and called the owner’s mum. Turns out it had been sitting in the rain for days.

simon1975- loving that bike!

Just back from a ride a couple of miles away from GT. Wet snow and sleet. Massively rewarding ride but very treacherous under wheel.

Ok I might look like a knob in my Lycra but I simply don’t care

Have you ever actually looked at your average Mountain Biker?

Raise your brake levers – having them much closer to horizontal than vertical really improves your position on the bike, however weird it feels at first.

Really? Sounds interesting. I’ve alway thought that having the breaks at a diagonal slant was better for riding ergonomic.

it’s just because last time I looked, the inherent accuracy of a standalone GPS chip is about 10m and that is down to factors out of your control….

Real World experience shows the dedicated GPS units to be much more accurate than an iPhone 4S or 5, and the 810 to be the most accurate I’ve tried.

iPhone is accurate to about 5 metres. Do you really need more accuracy than that??

I’d have said that at one time, but the new Garmins nail you down to an OS trail with pinpoint accuracy. That means you can navigate blind if you have to. Handy if the trail disappears into the heather, cloud or fog descends or night falls. That’s where high quality, accurate GPS comes to its own. I’d say the 810 is noticeably more accurate than the SatMap 10, but I used a SatMap to navigate across the top of Red Pike in Cumbria with near zero visibility conditions. Phone GPS just isn’t at that level yet.

I’d expect some very bad snow conditions. Looks like its heading straight for us. I’m planning a ride in the hills behind GT tomorrow AM. If the snow holds off, it’ll be ‘okay’.

Im currently looking at the edge 800/810 and the e-trex 30, can i get 1:25000 maps on garmin? Or can anyone recommend me a “bundle” there seem to be so many options

Garmin give access to 1:25000 maps that can be customised to specific areas. I think 600 km2 of 1:25000 is £20. Better though, the 800/810 allow you to upload any map so long as you have the correct coordinates and you downloaded the maps ‘legally’. You can also layer the maps and switch between OS maps and aerial images.

I’ve been using one for around three weeks now. I’m enjoying it but it is unusual!

The helmet is basically a sort of canoeing helmet adapted for cycling. Remove the brim and that’s exactly what it looks like.

Build quality is by far and away the best I’ve come across. It stands up to the quality most expensive roadie hats and eclipses the Giro Xen ( the helmet it’s replacing).

Fit is excellent, with a similar system to the Xen being used, and two weights of padding is supplied to allow fine tuning. The helmet covers more of the back and sides of the head than the Xen or a traditional road helmet, and off-road it’s very stable. During climbs, I found it to be slightly warmer that a Xen, but nowhere near unbearable. Despite the solid build, it feels light in the hand and on the head.

Looks wise, the helmet seems to sit very high on the head, but in reality it looks much more planted that the Xen. I took some comparison images for another post, (bathroom: model’s own):

If the helmet looks solid in the images then good! It is.

So the safety and quality is there. It comes down to the sort of look you want. I didn’t want to replicate a road style helmet off-road, so this looked the most different without resorting to ‘Rad’ styling. Despite that, it has an extreme sports vibe.

I think you’d be very surprised at just how much better Garmin’s satellite acquisition speed and accuracy has become. Even the latest iPhones can’t touch it.

800. Or better, 810 ( only available from Garmin). Extremely impressive. Anything else is something pretending to be one.

I upgraded from the brilliant 305, but I was sceptical about the touch screen. In fact it’s a breeze to operate with a pair of winter gloves on. You pay a hefty price, but it’ll see you through years and years.

I’ve punished a few saddles in my time, but my favourite is a 2003 Ritchey WCS Ti railed effort. I’ve got bored with it sometimes, or changed it to match a new bike, but it’s been utterly hammered over 10 years and is still going strong. Comfy out of the box and comfy now.

Brooks do lovely saddles, but to me it’s bling over almost every other consideration.

Woah! A 15.2lb Cervelo R3? 😯 pull yourself together man.

Not sure I’ve heard of a ride being so good that it stopped someone riding. Those must have been astoundingly good experiences.

An especially bad road ride took me off my bikes for over a year: A 40 mile hellish slog into a headwind and then through 60 miles of torrential rain in the hills and mountains. I was out of it for a week. That alone wouldn’t have done it, but the constant rain last year just put the tin lid on it. That, and building a house in last year’s rain with a river constantly flooding in the garden. Fun fun fun 😉

It’s a dip. Go with it and don’t let it become a big deal. Nearly everyone has this happen if they’ve been riding for long enough. Don’t ditch the bikes. Just store them for a few months.

It’s a real 1950s effort, isn’t it? More Indy than WWII

It’s all part of the ‘season’…

I’d stick with a wider platform mtb pedal. The shoe/boot types are more practicable for commuting for one thing.

You had one?! Kudos.

I mean look at the features…it’s like it dropped out of a wormhole from 2002. It’s all in there. And the shape…it looks so modern.

I was trying to work out what that prong on the RS1’s arch was when I came across this:

1991 Fisher RS-1 FS

Blimey. Wonder what it steered like?

It’s like a Galaxian cabinet turned into a bike. Serif font on the forks too…very Brunelian!

Fitting stuff, servicing, building…it’s bread and butter stuff for bike shops. Don’t even give it a second thought.

Vinnyeh…

Lynskey 456

And the latest Brant-designed version…

2013 Ti 456 Evo

I’ve never owned any Brant designed frames, but been told that some designs have had “issues”. Any troof in that?

He’s the only designer I’ve heard of who created a bike that was described by the press as ‘the best hardtail in the world’. He innovates and pushes boundaries all the time. Most of the time it works (brilliantly)…sometimes it doesn’t. He’s always worth paying attention to though.

What is it with beards.

Well you never see Ed Oxley and God in the same room together..

Hmm…I wonder…

I wonder what he thinks they are made from? Baked beans? 😆

Never had any major problems with 6 bolt, other than stripping Hope cheese-based bolts years ago.

Stop drinking the Kool-Aid 😐

Take a gander at this:

Tube Comparison chart[/url]

Just as well that no publicity is bad publicity…

I imagine Justin Bieber is telling himself that too.

Leaving hardtail bling aside, the Kona Explosif (pronounced exploh-seef), is such a nice frame. You’ll see the odd post about them on the forum now and again. I bet my old one is still out there thrashing some hill or other. Kona tends to do them on a year-on/year-off basis, but well worth a look:

Explosif

A new one will be a 29er no doubt! 😉